Dave Lee Travis trial: defence cites character witnesses in closing remarks

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/17/dave-lee-travis-trial-defence-closing-speech

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Veteran DJ Dave Lee Travis was the "perfect gentleman" and nothing like the "sleazy, predatory, opportunist" his assault trial has accused him of being, his defence barrister has told a court.

Making his closing speech, Stephen Vullo QC urged jurors to focus on the fact that so many women have come forward of their own accord to defend the former BBC broadcaster, who is charged under his real name, David Griffin.

"The crown say that Mr Griffin has a propensity to commit sexual assaults," Vullo said. "Somebody with a propensity throughout his whole life to act in a sleazy, predatory way would struggle, wouldn't they, to bring the type of character evidence that he has called before you."

Travis, 69, denies two counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault alleged to have been carried out between 1990 and 2008.

Vullo reminded jurors at London's Southwark crown court that all three of the former Radio 1 DJ's personal assistants, who worked for him at different stages over a combined time of more than 20 years, had wanted to give evidence to defend him.

"They described him as warm, friendly, tactile…" Vullo said, but added that none of the three women, who worked for him from his 1970s heydey until the early 2000s, said they had ever felt he had acted inappropriately towards them or had ever been aware of him doing so to anyone else.

Vullo also told the jury of six men and six women to think of the "powerful" evidence from Dee Dee Wilde, who regularly appeared on Top Of The Pops with Travis.

He said she knew him when he was at the "height of his popularity", when the BBC show drew in millions of viewers, unlike anything seen today.

Vullo said that Wilde, who appeared on the music show as part of the all-girl dance troupe Pan's People, said she always found Travis to be the "perfect gentleman" who never did anything to alarm her or her fellow dancers. Vullo also pointed out that the troupe clearly had a good "radar" for sleazy men, as Wilde had said that they found Jimmy Savile, who also presented the show, to be a nasty sexual predator.

Vullo told jurors Travis had sold his house to be able to hire investigators to help in his defence case and was now living on "dwindling resources".

The defendant is facing a retrial on two counts – one of indecent assault of a woman between 1 November 1990 and 31 January 1991, and another of sexual assault on a different woman between 1 June 2008 and 30 November 2008 – on which a jury was unable to reach verdicts at a trial earlier this year.

Travis, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, has also pleaded not guilty to an additional count of indecent assault alleged to have taken place on 17 January 1995.

The charges relate to three women, and the court has heard allegations relating to two more women.